Lake Council must spend millions to get out of jail mess

CROWN POINT | Millions of dollars in budget-busting expenses are rushing at the Lake County Council like prisoners in a jail break.

Lake County Sheriff John Buncich said during a County Council workshop Thursday that he needs a $4 million bailout this year.

The money would be used to hire 12 more corrections officers to control inmate movement in the jail and pay the higher cost of a beefed up medical and mental health staff, Buncich said.

Dante Rondelli, the council's financial adviser, said he expects another $2.5 million in requests to come sometime between now and next year because a federal study indicates the sheriff needs to hire an additional 52 corrections officers.

County Attorney John Dull told the council Thursday that Lake County will have to pay former jail inmates and their lawyers $6.9 million soon to settle a 2-year-old lawsuit alleging crowded and unsanitary conditions within the jail's holding cells.

Dull said he will ask the council for authority to borrow $8 million to cover the jail lawsuit and other litigation the county has resolved out of court.

Lake County Assessor Hank Adams warned the council he will be settling taxpayers' appeals dating back to 2006 at a cost of millions of dollars.

He said industrial property owners have been successful in proving the tax assessments on their factories were too high.

Adams said 4 percent interest is being added regularly to the proposed tax refunds that will be paid out in the coming months.

Buncich urged the council to appropriate the jail money at its regular meeting Tuesday to avoid breaching an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which cited the jail three years ago for violating inmate civil rights through insufficient medical and mental health services and unsanitary conditions.

"In January alone, our prescription drug costs were $146,000, which is up from $86,000 last year," Buncich told the council. "We are paying through the nose."